Bruce Springsteen has accomplished his "little redemption" and enjoys a "relative inner peace" after "35 years learning to let go of the destructive part" of his personality. He recognizes it in Western Stars , the film he has co-directed with Thom Zymny as a "meditation on men, women and the difficulty of love."

The narrative base is based on an intimate interpretation of the songs of his nineteenth album, of the same title, recorded in May at the top of the barn of his ranch in California , which has its own bar. But what had been conceived as the mere filming of a performance ended up becoming a poetic reflection on the "struggle between individual freedom and community life", internal demons and pain, a feeling "more familiar than love" .

Western Stars reflects the creative desire that underlies his work, the same one that in the last five years has led him to write his autobiography, to premiere on Broadway and to continue deepening in his musical universe: "He wanted to see if he could write again. There is always a moment you think you don't have any more ideas and suddenly something new comes up, something fresh. " With about five decades of experience, Springsteen is clear, "the most difficult thing is to have new ideas," especially when the public expects an oxymoron to materialize: "He wants you to surprise him and feel at home. Both things time".

Hence the challenge of the Western Stars album, published in June, although The Boss revealed today in London during the presentation of the homonymous film that had begun in 2012. After having parked it "several times" and accumulate up to forty tracks, the final result It is an "unusual" job, so, from the beginning, the stage animal that is Springsteen knew that he was not going to take him on tour. Far from assuming the end, its conclusion paradoxically constituted the germ of the work that opens on November 13.

"At one point I thought: it's new music, how could I bring the inner life of the songs to people?" He explained. The initial catalyst started from "a pragmatic decision" and it was not until after filming the performance, in just two days, when the project was transformed "organically into a movie". One day, "in front of the television", he began to write "what he thought of each of the subjects", an introspection exercise that "became the script".

His reflections, accompanied by powerful images of landscapes and imagery of an American west that Springsteen observes with nostalgia, openly acknowledge his decades of inner battle, but also show a man who has begun to tame his demons. "For a long time, if someone loved me, I hurt him," he confesses in Western Stars , although today, despite "having days," he says he has "learned to love."

Key to the redemption has been his wife for more than three decades, also the artist Patti Scalfia , who accompanies him on the guitar in all the themes of the film with an overwhelming connection, such as when they share a microphone to sing: "Those were only the lies you told me ", from the song Stones. "There is a lot of experience shared at that time," Springsteen admitted.

In fact, the singer has a regret. "I should have counted on her for the album, that was a big mistake," although she finds a comfort: "If you go deeper until you get to the core of the movie, she's there." Not surprisingly, the film shows homemade recordings, including honeymoon in 1988, images that, Springsteen said, he had not seen since.

At 70 (he turned them on September 23), The Boss has no intention of stopping. With a new tour in mind - "you have to pay the bills," he joked - enjoy a renewed "creativity." "The last five years have been very productive, I have felt very inspired and I feel that I am very lucky, because you never know," he confessed.

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